Doordarshan TV anchor faints live on air while reading heatwave updates in Bengal
heatwave, with temperatures soaring to 46 degrees celsius in some areas. In a dramatic incident, Lopamudra Sinha, an anchor with the Kolkata branch of Doordarshan, collapsed on live television while delivering updates on the heatwave.
The Fainting Episode
Sinha, who has been in the broadcasting field for 21 years, recounted the moment she felt unwell and parched before the morning broadcast on Thursday. Despite rarely keeping a water bottle with her during broadcasts, she felt the need for water that day. However, due to the lack of visuals and breaks in the broadcast, she couldn't find an opportunity to drink water until the end of the show.
«The teleprompter faded away and I blacked out… I collapsed on my chair,» she said in a video shared on her Facebook page.
She stated that she fainted «due to intense heat and because her blood pressure plummeted suddenly». The anchor also said that due to some snag in the cooling system, there was extreme heat inside the studio.
She said she was feeling unwell and parched before the morning broadcast on Thursday. «I never keep a water bottle with me. Be it a fifteen-minute or half an hour broadcast, I have never felt the need to sip water during broadcasts in my 21 years of career. But, I felt parched even as 15 minutes were left for the broadcast to end. When the TV was showing visuals and not my face, I pointed to the floor manager and asked for a bottle of water,» she said in Bangla.
The Collapse
While reading a story about the heatwave, Sinha's speech started to slur,
